A new Begin
by TTigerz
Summary: Sequel to Never hate your enemies. The rebels are moving and the new generation of Guardians is being revealed. How will Hay-Lin coop with this and what is Will planning? T because of blood.
1. Chapter 1

_**[A/N] Okay, hello people! This is the sequel to 'Never hate your enemies', which is a sequel to 'I make you an offer you cannot refuse'. As you've noticed the last two stories were one-shots but I just couldn't make a one-shot out of this one. There is just too much happening for a one-shot! But thanks for tuning in and I hope you're going to like it.**_

**A new begin**

Taranee and Caleb looked in shock at what was happening in front of them. There was a group of roughly 10 people standing in front of them and one of them was standing face to face with them. And to make things weirder, that person was none other than Will Vandom, former Leader of the Guardians, known and infamous head of the assassination squads of Hay-Lin and the rebels greatest loss.

Taranee looked again at Will. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Will was standing in front of her with the Heart of Kandrakar hanging around her neck and the Oracle symbol on her head.

Taranee lowered her hands and dispatched the fire that surrounded them. Caleb, however, raised his sword again and pointed it at Will's chin.

'No traitors allowed.' he growled.

His action made the people who were standing behind Will to start acting restless. Will held up her hand, signaling them to stay put. Nobody moved but the people behind Will were making intimidating signs. Will looked at Caleb. Normally Taranee would have known what Will was thinking, just by looking at her, but now she couldn't sense anything. She tried to read Will's mind but she was clearly stopped by some barrier. Suddenly Will's gaze shifted to Taranee.

'That won't work anymore, T.' she said calmly.

Taranee looked confused at Will. Will never noticed it when Taranee was reading her mind and she never talked in this way. It sounded calm and full of wisdom she wasn't supposed to have at this age.

Caleb was growing annoyed and now touched Will's throat with his sword.

'Don't ignore me!' he demanded. 'Go away and take your dogs with you, you are not welcome.'

'Caleb, do you know who I am?' Will asked, her voice returning to the one Taranee and Caleb remembered.

'A redhead with an attitude?' Caleb replied, his tone full of mockery.

'And you're a rebel leader?' she retorted. 'What are you rebelling against? Diaper rash?'

Caleb had it with Will's sudden appearance and annoying replies. He swung his sword at Will but before it would have made any contact it bounced off, pushing Caleb far away from Will. As the rebels and the people Will had taken with her were watching Caleb in confusion, Taranee was looking between Caleb and Will. Caleb was dazed and confused at what happened and Will just looked surprised.

'So THAT would happen… Kinda funny.' she heard Will mutter.

Will then turned to Taranee.

'Seeing that you're the one who can manage to talk instead of resorting to weapons.' she started. 'Can I talk to you? I need to explain a lot.'

Taranee looked at Will. Her propose was valid and sounded peaceful, but could she be trusted? Will has been working for Hay-Lin for a full year now. Okay she had promised to save Will from Hay-Lin's clutches and that never happened. But still… This could be a trap.

'Okay, but if you don't mind we'll talk here until I know you and those behind you are honest in joining us.' she replied.

Will smiled at Taranee. Caleb finally managed to get back on his feet and glared at Will.

'How did you do that?' he demanded.

Will ignored him and he got angry again. He went up to her and tried to get a hold of her. But before he had a hold of Will, she had a hold of him. She looked him in the eyes.

'Caleb, if I were you I would keep my emotions in check, before someone gets hurt.' she said softly, with a clear warning hidden in the sentence.

Caleb just glared at her and didn't respond. She let him go and then sat on the ground. She motioned the people behind her to sit down as well. The cloaked people sat down while looking awkwardly around. The rebels who were present kept standing, eyeing the newcomers.

Taranee sighed and then sat down as well. Caleb on the other hand, was still looking for a fight.

'Now you can put that overgrown toothpick away and sit down or fly a couple of more times towards a wall.' Will said as she glared at him. 'Your call, rebel boy.'

Caleb glared at her but after seeing Taranee's demanding look he complied. He put his sword away and sat down with his arms crossed. Taranee sighed while Will silently laughed.

'So…Will, what's going on?' Taranee said after the little 'confrontation'.

Will looked at Taranee with sadness.

'T, I'm so sorry I didn't fight earlier.' she said, sounding very sorry. 'I should have turned my back on Hay-Lin the moment she asked me, but I couldn't. I couldn't risk her.'

'Her?' Taranee asked confused.

'My mom.' Will replied, grief evident in her voice. 'Hay-Lin gave me the choice between serving her or my mom's life.'

Taranee's eyes widened. She could understand why Will had worked for Hay-Lin. Hay-Lin gave her pretty much the same option with the only difference that her brother, mother and father already worked for Hay-Lin. Taranee still hated Hay-Lin for making her kill her own family.

'You should have chosen for your people's freedom.' Caleb said coldly. He didn't mean what he said. He knew how hard such a choice is and that Will's mother was one of the few that showed love towards Will, something Will needed.

Taranee gave Caleb a scolding look but Will sighed.

'You're right.' she said, making Taranee and Caleb look at her in surprise. 'I know that what I did was selfish and I hope you can forgive me for it.'

Caleb and Taranee were looking speechless at each other. Will normally would have started to argue with Caleb that would resemble Cornelia's and Irma's back in the day. But now she just accepted what he said.

'Uhm…We'll think about it.' Taranee said awkwardly.

'Yeah…But now back to topic.' Caleb said, snapping out of his surprise. 'You told us why you joined her but why should we believe that you, or those who are with you, betrayed Hay-Lin? You could very well be some spies, here to take us down!'

'They are here because they followed me.' Will said simply. 'I can promise you, on the Heart of Kandrakar, that they are no longer following Hay-Lin's orders. As for me… My reason will be explained with this.'

She handed a letter over to Taranee.

'I swear on the Heart of Kandrakar that I didn't write this letter or that I magically or manually altered it.'

Caleb eyed Will suspiciously before reading the letter with Taranee. Their eyes widened as they finished the letter.

'Will…' Taranee said, sounding sorry. 'I didn't know. I'm sorry.'

'Don't be.' Will said. 'I handled my stress and can live with it. Though I want to bring Hay-Lin down, with or without your help.'

'Okay, let's say I trust you.' Caleb said, making Will roll her eyes. 'But I still don't trust them. Who are they anyway?'

Will glanced over to her 'followers'.

'They are former members of the London assassination squad.' she said calmly.

'They are WHAT?' Caleb and Taranee exclaimed at the same time.

The rebels present all grabbed their weapons. Guns and swords were pointed at the assassination members. The assassination members were about to make a move when Will spoke up.

'If you keep pointing weapons at each other I'll personally see to it that you won't have any fingers left to hold one!' Will growled at the rebels and assassination members.

The way she said it made the rebels look at each other in fear, unsure what to do. The assassination members, however, stopped grabbing their weapons and went back to their former sitting positions.

'Will, why did you bring them here?' Taranee asked, clearly shocked.

'And how did you know we hide here?' Caleb added suspicious.

'Well… Those of the London squad joined me after I asked them. Then I kinda killed the rest…' Will said, sounding like she regretted that.

Taranee and Caleb looked at Will as if she had grown a second head.

'You killed a whole squad?' Caleb said unbelieving.

'I was angry with Hay-Lin and instead of walking bluntly to her and trying to kill her I struck an important branch of her organization.' Will said. 'Though now I wish my anger hadn't taken control of me.'

'Still…it is kinda scary…' Taranee admitted.

'But you still didn't answer our second question.' Caleb said. 'How did you get here? How did you know?'

'That was pretty easy.' Will said.

But before she could continue there was some noise.

'Stop calling me that!' a female voice said.

'Stop calling you what, Eddy?' another female voice said.

'That's it! I'm going to Taranee!' the first voice said.

'Boohoohoo! Eddy can't handle her nickname?' the second said.

'Taranee!' the first voice whined. 'Taranee, she's doing it again!'

Will looked curiously at Taranee, who was sighing. She caught Will's glance and gave her a weak smile. Two girls rounded the corner and were now standing in front of a sitting Will, Taranee and Caleb, a group of rebels and another, unknown, group. They both stopped when they noticed what was going on.

'Uhm… Maybe not the best time to interrupt…' One of the girls said.

Will took a good look at them. The one who talked was a girl of approximately 15 years old. She had red hair, not as red as Will more orange like, tied in a ponytail while some bangs hang freely next to her face. She had blue eyes. She wore marine blue shorts and a white T-shirt with a Pikachu on it. She wore a cap and had a necklace in the shape of a moon. All in all she looked like a tomboy from the upper class.

The other looked also around the 15 years old. She had shorter brown hair, shoulder length which curled at the end. She had one green colored eye and one brown colored. She wore a sleeveless shirt with flowers on it and a short sleeved vest on top of it, a green skirt and a silver bracelet with several flower shaped charms.

'Ehren, Edeline.' Taranee said with a sigh. 'Could you come back later? I'm kinda busy now…'

'No.' Will interrupted as she got up. 'Let them stay.'

She got up and started to circle around the two girls who were both eyeing Will with suspicion. When Will came closer they backed off.

'Listen lady, I don't know who you are but have you ever heard of a personal bubble?' the brown haired one said.

Will smiled at them. 'Of course, where are my manners?' she said friendly.

Taranee recognized the tone as the same tone the former Oracle used when he talked to them.

'I'm Will Vandom.' Will said with a small bow. 'An old friend of Taranee's.'

The two girls looked a little awkward at each other.

'What should we do?' the orange haired girl asked nervously. 'I don't know her…'

'I don't know…' the brown haired girl answered. 'I think I've heard that name before…'

Both of them looked at Taranee. She silently nodded and both nodded back. They looked at Will.

'My name is Ehren Masters.' the girl with orange hair said.

'And I'm Edeline Anderson.' the girl with brown hair said.

Will nodded and then turned around.

'Natasha! Can you come here?' she said.

Taranee looked confused. Why would Will want someone to come to her. Taranee looked around and saw a small figure stumble over her cloak as she tried to get up. She quickly got up and hurried to Will. Will smiled at her.

'You don't need to hurry, there is no emergency.' she said reassuringly.

'Yes, ma'am.' the girl said.

'And what did I say about that?' Will said slightly annoyed.

'Oops… sorry Will.' the girl replied.

'Remove your cloak so that everyone else knows how you look like.' Will ordered.

The girl slowly removed her cloak. Taranee estimated her age around 15 years old. The girl had long black hair that reached her back. She had a slightly tinted skin color and brown eyes. She wore a T-shirt with a cat's paw print on it and some jeans. She wore a locket around her neck. The girl looked at Ehren and Edeline.

'My name is Natasha Lewis.' she said shyly.

She then turned to Will.

'Why did I have to come?'

'I think you can use some friends your age.' Will replied. 'Especially when those friends have had the same rough life as you.'

Ehren, Edeline, Natasha and Taranee looked curious at Will.

'What do you mean?' Natasha asked confused.

'Ehren and Edeline lost their parents as well and Edeline was since short also a member of an assassination squad.' Will explained.

Ehren, Taranee, Edeline and Caleb looked at Will in surprise and shock.

'How did you know?' Ehren demanded. 'How did you know that Eddy was a member of an assassination squad and that our parents were killed?'

Will laughed.

'There are things you can't hide from me.' she said mysteriously. 'That and that I was the head of all the assassination squads so I kinda know all about Edeline.'

'That doesn't explain how you knew that Ehren was parentless.' Caleb countered.

Will pointed at the mark on her head.

'Do you really think I have this as a decoration?' she asked.

'N-No… but I…' Caleb stammered.

'Thought that I was trying to fool you.' Will finished for him.

Caleb nodded dumbly.

'Taranee, what are they talking about?' Ehren asked confused.

'Nothing, Ehren.' Will replied instead of Taranee. 'Something about the past. But what I want to know is how old were you when you joined the assassination team, Edeline?'

'14. Why?' Edeline asked confused.

'And you're 15 now, right?' Will continued.

Edeline nodded. She didn't know why Will was asking her these things.

'But you never had a real mission in which you had to kill someone, right?' Will continued.

Edeline again nodded.

'No, okay. Thank you.' Will said with a smile. 'Now hurry off and go play somewhere, I need to talk with Taranee and Caleb.'

Edeline and Ehren nodded. They started to walk away when Ehren turned around.

'Natasha, are you coming?' she asked.

Natasha looked surprised from Ehren to Edeline to Will. Will gave her a small nod and Natasha ran after Edeline and Ehren.

'Will… why did you want to know Edeline's age?' Caleb asked confused.

'Hay-Lin has been adding young kids to the assassination squads and it all started a year ago.' Will explained. 'She asked her grandmother to find all the magical kids around the age of 12 to 14, she then went and killed those kids parents. Those kids would be lonely and would want revenge and she could act as if she pitied them and add them to her assassination squadrons. Once she thinks those kids are loyal enough to her she sends them on dangerous jobs. One of these jobs will push them in using their unknown powers and then Hay-Lin would teach them how to use them. That way they'll keep obeying her and she gets a stronger army.'

Caleb and Taranee were taken aback by this information. They knew Hay-Lin was doing something but this was ridiculous.

'But that's not all is it?' Taranee asked.

Will shook her head.

'No, you're right. She wants to find the next generation of Guardians and either brainwash them or destroy them.'

'That's great!' Caleb growled angry. 'She just has to ask her grandmother and she'll pinpoint the new Guardians! For all we know she may already have them!'

This made Will smile. The evil kind.

'What's so funny?' Caleb asked her annoyed.

'It seems that you still don't know why I'm having this mark on my head, now do you?' Will asked him while pointing at the mark.

Caleb looked dumbly at her. He didn't realize what she meant until he heard Taranee gasp.

'So, you really are the Oracle?' Taranee said unbelievingly.

'No, I'm the taco delivery girl. Of course I am!' Will said slightly annoyed.

'But if you're the Oracle, does that mean that Yan-Lin is no more at Kandrakar?' Taranee asked, ignoring Will's sarcastic remark.

'That's the thing… As long as Yan-Lin is sitting on my place in Kandrakar, I don't have my full Oracle powers. But on the other side, she is limited as well. I can escape her view, block some of her predicting powers and I can sense who the new Guardians are and she can't.' Will explained.

'How did this happen?' Caleb asked interested.

'Apparently it was my destiny to become Oracle.' Will said with a shrug. 'That prick we had as an Oracle showed up in one of my dreams and explained the lot to me.'

'It sounds you're angry with him.' Taranee remarked.

'You would be if you knew that he could have stopped all this if he just decided to do something.' Will replied with a frown.

Taranee widened her eyes in disbelieve. Caleb, who never had more than one conversation with the man, didn't get her annoyance and changed the subject.

'You said that you can sense the new Guardians.' he said, getting Will's and Taranee's attention. 'Does that mean that you know where and who they are?'

Will nodded with a sad smile.

'Yeah, sadly enough all of them but one joined Hay-Lin.' she replied, making Caleb and Taranee look at each other in fear.

'On the bright side.' Will continued. 'Two of them are back in the light and a third is coming.'

'What do you mean?' Taranee asked confused. 'You've already met two of the new Guardians?'

'Three to be exact.' Will replied. 'One came with me. One joined you after her parents were killed and one joined you after meeting with the one that already joined you.'

'You mean…?' Caleb said shocked.

'Yes, Edeline, Ehren and Natasha are three Guardians.' Will said with a smile.

'That's fantastic news!' Caleb said as he jumped up. 'That means that we'll have a bigger chance in defeating Hay-Lin!'

Taranee, however, didn't share his happiness. She looked at Will with pleading eyes.

'You can't mean that, Will.' she said. 'They're too young.'

'They are older than when we first started.' Will pointed out.

'But this is different.' Taranee said. 'You can't let them go into battle now.'

'They are more experienced than we were.' Will pointed out again. 'But I sense that you've got another reason. You got attached to them, didn't you? You see them as your daughters, don't you?'

Taranee looked at Will. She sighed as she nodded. Ehren and her had grown pretty close over the years that they've been hiding and when Edeline joined she grew close to her as well. The idea of them fighting and maybe dying was not one of Taranee's favorite options.

'Relax Taranee.' Will said as she saw her thinking. 'I wouldn't sent them in battle without their full powers and unfortunately those powers are still in us. I can't take the Aurameres back until I've gained all of my Oracle powers. They have now their own limited magic and we need to teach them how to control it before going after Hay-Lin.' Will explained.

'What powers do they have?' Caleb asked.

'Natasha is the new leader of the Guardians.' Will replied. 'So she has Quintessence. Ehren is our new Water Guardian and Edeline is the new Guardian of Earth.'

'Ehren and Edeline are Water and Earth?' Taranee asked. 'They don't act like Cornelia and Irma... They're best friends!'

'It is never said that Water and Earth couldn't live without fighting each other.' Will said with a smile.

'Wait, you said one was coming.' Caleb said, remembering what Will had said. 'Who is coming?'

'Georgiana Kazemaru.' Will replied. 'Our new Air Guardian and junior member of the feared Japanese assassination squad.'

'Japanese assassination squad?' Taranee and Caleb yelled.

The other rebels and ex-assassination squad members started to look around scared. Everyone knew that once the Japanese assassination squad was after you, you would die.

'Yeah, Hay-Lin dispatched them a couple of hours ago.' Will replied nonchalantly. 'I guess she send them over here since this would be the best place for me to go.'

'That's horrible! We can't fight them! They're way to strong!' Caleb said shocked. 'Do you realize that you're putting us all in danger?'

'Relax Caleb.' Taranee said, trying to calm the rebel leader. 'Hay-Lin doesn't know we're here or else she would have disposed of us already.'

'No, she knows you're here.' Will said simply, making Taranee and Caleb look at her in horror. 'She just thought that you weren't that much of a threat. Yan-Lin sniffed you out years ago.'

'Great! Just great!' Caleb muttered. 'Now you just had to go rouge on Hay-Lin, hadn't you?'

'Relax, I was actually planning on moving you all and then hiding you from Yan-Lin's sight.' Will answered relaxed.

'What are you planning?' Taranee asked.

'A lot.' Will replied with a sly grin. 'But it would help if you guys agreed on helping me, just like old times.'

Taranee saw the glimmer in Will's eyes. The glimmer that always came when Will had a crazy idea that might just work. She grinned herself. She was positive that this Will was someone she could thrust. She pulled Will in a hug.

'Thank the Lord!' she said. 'You have no idea how long I've been praying and dreaming about this moment.'

She released Will and looked at her. Will grinned at her best friend.

'So that's a yes?' she asked with a smile.

'Hell yeah.' Taranee replied with a smile of her own.

Both of the women glanced at Caleb. Caleb still looked not convinced.

'Tell me again why I should listen to a traitor.' he said coldly.

Will grinned at him and stood up. She walked up to him and pulled him up as well. He looked confused at her while she kept smiling. He was a foot taller than her but he couldn't help but feel submissive. He looked down and remembered how much he loved it to see Will's hazel brown eyes. She took his chin softly and pulled him slowly down so that his eyes met hers.

Taranee was looking at them in great shock. Will just came back to them and was already planning on claiming Caleb? She kept looking with wide eyes as Will continued to smile at Caleb while he just looked awkward.

She placed her hands on his temples and Caleb's eyes fluttered close. Will concentrated and Caleb's face contorted. It showed shock, anger and grief. Will released his head and Caleb took a step back, panting. Taranee and the rebels looked confused at Will and Caleb. Will panted a little but then shook her head. Caleb kept staring at her, not knowing what to say.

Sensing the unspoken question Will turned to Taranee.

'I showed him what happened to me. His skull is way too thick to get through with only talking.' she said calmly.

'And you do that by seducing him to get close enough to you?' Taranee asked in amazement.

Will shrugged. 'Hey, Oracle or not I'm still a woman with hormones.'

She then turned to Caleb. 'So rebel boy, what's it gonna be?'

Caleb seemed to snap out of his stupor. He looked at Will and saw the same stubborn look that he had admired for so long. He sighed.

'I'm glad to see that you're back on the team.' he said. 'But one thing has to be clear. I'm the leader, understood?'

Will rolled her eyes and Taranee cleared her throat. Caleb glanced over to Taranee and quickly restored his error.

'With Taranee, that is.' he added.

Will giggled softly as Taranee now rolled her eyes.

'Of course.' Will replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes. 'I'll just keep to my role as future Oracle and give you 'advice'.'

She said the last word with so much sarcasm that Caleb knew that he had lost that battle but decided not to show his defeat. Taranee shook her head again before standing up as well and turning to Will.

'So you had a plan?' she said.

'O yeah,' Will said sheepishly. 'Well it involves all of us to go to the Infinite City and to kidnap one maybe two people. That depends on our luck.'

This made Caleb laugh. Will glared at him while he stopped laughing.

'Well that was one of the best jokes or worst plan I ever heard!' he said, ticking Will off.

'What do you mean?' she said calmly, though her eyes were saying something else.

'For starters, the Infinite City is on Meridian, which is ruled by a corrupt Elyon.' Caleb said. 'And second…'

He didn't manage to tell Will what he second error was cause she interrupted him.

'EEEEUUUUHHHH! Wrong!' she said with a giant smile. 'Elyon isn't corrupt, just enthralled.'

Caleb rolled his eyes and sighed.

'Okay, Miss Know-It-All.' Caleb said.

'That's why I'm here.' Will replied with a grin.

Caleb decided to ignore that comment.

'But anyway, we cannot open a fold without Yan-Lin knowing it. She tells Hay-Lin and Hay-Lin will have Elyon gunning for our asses!'

Will swatted Caleb on the head.

'And that's why you need me.' she said. 'I open the fold without drawing attention from Yan-Lin.'

'And you're planning to do that how?' he sneered.

Will acted as if she was thinking really hard.

'Hmmm… Didn't think about that.' she said sarcastically. 'Maybe… Just maybe I could use my Oracle powers to block Yan-Lin's powers from feeling that a fold opened and maybe I can block your presence as well?'

She looked at Caleb with a confident smile. Caleb looked as if he could face palm himself but kept his cool. Taranee shook her head.

'But Will, you said something about kidnapping?' Taranee questioned.

'We need the new generation.' Will explained. 'The last two are going to be troublesome and since you don't want to wait for the Japanese squad there is no other option.'

'But kidnapping?' Taranee questioned, feeling uncomfortable. 'Doesn't that go against…I don't know…the Oracle code or something like that?'

Will shrugged. 'Code schmode woman! I'm not a full-powered Oracle and that means that I don't have to be scared of any universal rules. So make sure everyone packs his or her stuff. I'll be back in about 15 minutes.'

With that she disappeared. Taranee and Caleb looked at the spot where she disappeared. They then turned to the rebels and ex-assassination members.

'Welcome to the rebellion.' Taranee said. 'Well you've heard Will, get a move on! Alert the whole base that they go pack their stuff and that they're here in 15 minutes!'

Immediately people started to move as Caleb and Taranee went through the base to alert the rest and to get their stuff. Nigel came running to Taranee.

'Taranee, what's going on?' he asked confused.

Taranee looked at him with a big smile. A smile that Nigel hadn't seen in years.

'Will's back!' she said.


	2. Chapter 2

_**[A/N] The ex members of the London assassination squad are now also labeled as rebels.**_

**Chapter 2**

_At Hay-Lin's HQ_

Hay-Lin was petting her cat. She didn't know what to do. She dispatched her most deadliest assassination squad an hour or two ago and know all she could do was wait. She was thinking about calling for Matt so that she could laugh at him or maybe she would call Eric or one of the other men of her harem, just to please her. A knock snapped her out of her train of thoughts.

'Enter.' she said in her usual cold voice.

Irma entered with a slight bow.

'Irma, why do I owe this pleasure?' Hay-Lin asked, making sure that there was a clear warning in that sentence.

Irma seemed to get the warning because she gulped before looking Hay-Lin right in the eye. Irma and Cornelia were the only ones who dared to look her in the eye. Well, more like she allowed them to. Hay-Lin had to admit that enthralling had its perks. Will was the only one besides them who dared to look her in the eyes as well. And every time she did Hay-Lin could see the anger that she hid so well. Hay-Lin shook those thoughts away as she focused again on Irma.

'Ma'am.' she started. 'We just got word from the Japanese assassination.'

Hay-Lin raised an eyebrow. She knew they were fast but they never were this fast.

'And?'

'One of their members is kidnapped.' Irma replied.

Hay-Lin laughed out loud.

'You're telling me someone, of my best assassination squad, got kidnapped?' she said coldly with a hint of laughter.

'Yes ma'am.' Irma replied.

'Well, all I can say is that they chose a lousy replacement for their former member.' Hay-Lin replied with a shrug. 'I don't need to know when someone's that bad that he or she gets captured. I only want to know if they managed to get rid of the rebels and Will.'

'They aren't here yet, ma'am.' Irma replied. 'But if I may…'

'Tell me, what's on your mind?' Hay-Lin asked.

'Well… When Will became head of all the assassination squadrons she had to kill the former leader, right?' Irma started slowly.

Hay-Lin nodded.

'And the last head of the squadrons was the best of the Japanese assassination squad, am I right?' Irma continued.

'Yes…' Hay-Lin said, not knowing what Irma was trying to say.

'Well…and she, on her own, killed the London assassination squad, right?' Irma said, looking at Hay-Lin.

'Yeah, so? What are you trying to say?' Hay-Lin asked annoyed.

'Well, if she's capable of all that…Why do you think the Japanese assassination squad will succeed?' Irma finished slowly.

Hay-Lin smiled, the creepy kind.

'I don't think they'll be able to succeed.' she replied casually. 'I just hope they can take some rebels down before dying, that's all.'

Irma showed no emotions and bowed.

'Of course. Sorry for asking.' she said emotionless.

Hay-Lin smiled by herself as she watched Irma go away. She was glad that she decided not to enthrall Irma and Cornelia completely. Now she could have a conversation with them without them nodding like zombies. And the news Irma brought her? Heck if she cared. She couldn't care if one died or a thousand, as long as she got what she wanted she would be content. And after Will killed the Japanese assassination squad, she would have a big enough opening to kill Will once and for all.

Hay-Lin cackled out loud as she imagined Will, crushed and broken, laying at her feet and begging her for mercy.

_At the Rebel HQ_

All the rebels were waiting in the main hall. Natasha, Ehren and Edeline were standing next to Taranee, Nigel, Martin, Alchemy and Caleb.

'Taranee, why did we had to pack our stuff?' Ehren asked curious.

'Because we're moving.' Taranee answered while looking at her watch.

'To where?' Edeline asked confused. 'I thought that that Oracle woman would notice us if we did?'

'She already knew where we are.' Caleb answered. 'But now we can disappear from her sight. We're moving to Meridian.'

'So we're finally going to that mysterious Meridian?' Martin questioned. 'I've been waiting for a long, long time to go there, you know that?'

'Yes, Martin.' Taranee sighed. 'We know. You've been telling us that ever since you found out about the Guardians and Caleb.'

Natasha, Ehren and Edeline were looking confused at each other.

'What are you talking about?' Edeline asked annoyed.

'Who or what are the Guardians?' Ehren asked.

'What's Meridian?' Natasha asked intrigued.

Taranee and Caleb looked at each other. Should they tell?

'I'll tell you soon enough.' another voice said.

They turned around to see Will approaching them with a long, squirming and sound-making bag. She grabbed the bag at a certain point and the volume of the bag stiffened and went quiet.

'What's in the bag?' Natasha asked interested.

Will smiled at the girl. Even though it was just yesterday that they arrived here, she was already feeling more at home than she did at the assassination squad.

'Just another playmate.' Will said simply before handing the bag to Caleb.

'Can you hold her for a sec, please?' she said with pleading, puppy-dog eyes. 'I need both my hands to do this.'

Natasha, Ehren and Edeline looked at Will in shock, not sure if they had heard her right.

Caleb sighed as he took the bag from her. He groaned because of the sudden weight.

'Be careful.' Will said with a smile. 'She is heavier than I give her credit for.'

Caleb just glared at her as he adjusted the weight. Will closed her eyes and stretched out her arms. She started to concentrate and Taranee could feel the magic that she was trying to invoke. Taranee noticed that she was shaking. She never thought that an Oracle, or even an Oracle with half his powers, would be this strong. She felt something shaking next to her. She looked next to her and she noticed that Natasha, Ehren and Edeline were shaking as well. She looked around, none of the other rebels seemed to notice the magical energy.

*Maybe Will was right about them. I just wish they hadn't had such a terrible life.* Taranee thought sadly as she watched Will.

Will slashed her hands through the air and a fold appeared. She then kept her hands outstretched while many rebels were looking at the fold in fear and amazement.

'What's that?' Edeline exclaimed in fear.

'It's a fold.' Will replied with difficulty. 'With this you can go to Meridian. Now GO! I cannot hold it open for too long.'

The rebels were looking doubtful at the fold. It was, after all, a rip in time and space in which they could get lost or could mutate or something else like they've seen in movies. Even the rebels who originally came from Meridian weren't sure of what to do. It was five years ago when they came to Earth and they didn't even remember how.

'Are you waiting for a written invitation?' Will groaned annoyed. 'Go through it!'

Taranee took Nigel's and Ehren's hand. Ehren quickly grabbed Edeline while Edeline grabbed Natasha. The five of them went through the fold. Caleb didn't wait too long. He adjusted the weight of the bag again and took Alchemy's and Martin's hand and pulled them through the fold. The rebels saw their leaders go and decided that nothing could be worse than being killed or captured by Hay-Lin and all went through the fold. Will quickly went through the fold and fell on her face as she entered Meridian as well.

'Will! Are you alright?' Taranee asked as she went to help Will up.

Will grinned sheepishly at Taranee as she got up.

'Sure T, you know me.' she said. 'Just a little tired that's all.'

Just after she said that she started swaying and nearly fell again if not for a pair of arms who caught her on the right moment. Will looked up and saw the grinning face of Caleb.

'Just a little tired, huh?' he said.

Will stuck her tongue out.

'Just a little, rebel boy.' she replied with a smile.

Caleb helped her up when Natasha walked to Will.

'Will, are we really on another world?' she asked confused.

Will smiled as she looked around. The forest, the nature, it was still the same.

'Yes' she said. 'Welcome to Meridian.'

'This is unbelievable!' Martin exclaimed. 'So much nature! So many different creatures!'

'It's okay Martin.' Alchemy replied with a grin. 'You'll get plenty of time to research this place when this whole war is over.'

Martin looked at Alchemy with a cocky smile.

'As long as you're with me, I'm happy enough.'

The two kissed while Ehren was making puking sounds and Edeline was squealing out of happiness. Natasha just laughed at Ehren when she got a slap on the head and a scolding look from Taranee.

'Will, why aren't we in the Infinite City?' Caleb questioned.

'Well, we can't use any old entrances so I thought it would be smart to go in through a new one.' Will replied as she started walking. 'Follow me.'

The rebels stopped their sightseeing and followed Will. Caleb sighed and grabbed the bag again. After walking for an hour they finally stopped at a part of the forest. It didn't seem extraordinary. It was just another open spot with four death trees at every corner of the spot and one old willow, with a hole in the bark, in the middle of the spot. Will went to the willow and put her arm into the hole. Everyone heard a small "click" and suddenly the ground was shaking. A patch of grass retreated to reveal a stone staircase.

'You may enter.' Will said with a smile.

The rebels were looking in awe at the hole in the floor and slowly descended the stairs. When the last one entered, the ground shook again and the patch of grass went back to its old place. Immediately the staircase was lit by gems that were in the wall, bathing everyone in a blue-ish light. They all looked in awe when they arrived at the Infinite City. The walls were high, the same light as in the hallway shone as well and they could hear the noise of falling water. They even found some patches of land with Meridian's version of a solar light. Taranee took charge of the rebels.

'Okay!' she said, sounding loud and clear over the mumbling human mass. 'Everyone find yourselves a spot to sleep! People who know how to farm, you'll sleep next to the patches of land. The rest of you can take a spot they like.'

While the rebels were busy setting up their camps, Caleb walked to Will.

'How did you know this was here?' he asked her.

'If you're going to ask another stupid question then I'm going to show you what sort of powers I've got at the moment.' Will growled at him in annoyance.

'Someone is cranky today.' he said slightly annoyed.

Will sighed. 'It's just that I had to use a lot of energy and I'm still not used to doing this stuff and that my mom passed away yesterday and that I didn't get enough sleep and… Caleb, where is the bag?' she suddenly questioned.

Caleb looked around and then face palmed himself.

'When I saw that there was another hidden entrance I dropped the bag and forgot to take it with me.' he groaned.

Will immediately shot up and started to walk towards the entrance. Caleb quickly followed her.

'Men!' she mumbled. 'Never give them a job they can't handle.'

'I heard that!' Caleb said.

'I know.' Will replied coldly. 'Do you have any idea what you did? She can die!'

'Who?' Caleb answered, clearly annoyed.

'The fourth Guardian, numbskull. That's who!' Will replied as she rushed up the stairs.

_At the forest._

The bag was laying alone on an open clearing. It slowly started to move again and slowly a girl came out of it. She seemed to be from Asian origin. She had black hair in a style similar to Will's old hairstyle with grey eyes. She was wearing a black jeans with a black long sleeved shirt. The sleeves of the shirt ended bell shaped. Black sneakers completed the outfit. She was tied up with ropes and was struggling to get free. With agility equal to a snake person she managed to get out of the ropes. She stood up and brushed the dust off her clothes when she noticed that she wasn't in a place she knew.

'How did I get here?' she said softly as she looked at her surroundings. 'The last thing I remember was going to the restroom in the plane… What happened?'

She started to walk around when she suddenly heard a noise behind her. She turned around and grabbed for a knife. Or she would have if she had one with her. She quickly searched her body only to notice that her weapons were gone.

'What the?' she said. 'Where are my weapons?'

The noise grew louder and the girl went into a crouching position. The bushes started to move and three creatures came out. They had yellow eyes and looked like a combination of a werewolf and an orc gone wrong. They were holding crude weapons like an axe and a spear. The girl had seen weird things in her short life but this was too much for her to handle. She completely freaked out and started screaming.

'AAAAAAAH!'

This of course made the monsters look at the source of the sound. When they saw the girl they immediately took out their weapons and started to chase the girl. The girl in question started to run away. She evaded the trees and kept running. Sometimes she turned around to see if the monsters were still following her and she got answered by a spear that closely shot past her. She kept running while thinking what went wrong and maybe trying to remember some of her training.

*This is insane!* she thought. *I've trained with the best to kill people and get away unseen but no-one told me that I needed to fight monsters! This is insane! I'm going to sue someone if I survive!*

She noticed that she was almost out of the forest.

*Just a little bit more.* she thought.

Suddenly she heard noises of fighting. She kept on running but turned her head to see what was happening. She saw a woman with bright red hair and a man with brown shaggy hair fighting the monsters. The man used a sword while the woman used her fists which seemed coated with lightning.

*I'm going insane!* the girl mentally screamed.

The fighting seemed to stop and the woman and man ran towards her. Something seemed off. The man and woman were closing in on her while they were just walking. She looked forward again and noticed that she wasn't moving forward. She then noticed that nothing was standing next to her. No trees, no bush, no stones and… no ground! She looked down and noticed that she was flying above a fissure. When she noticed this fact, the thing, that seemed to keep her up, disappeared and she fell. This was way too much for her to handle and she fainted.

She woke slowly up and started to groan. She slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She saw that she was laying in a tent. She saw a small table with a chair and her shoes.

'So you're finally awake?' a sudden voice said next to her.

The girl's head snapped aside and she saw a woman sitting next to her. A woman with bright red hair and she was smiling to her.

'We were very concerned about you.' she said.

The girl took a better look at the woman and then gasped. Immediately after she gasped she winced. She felt a pain in her ribs and groaned.

'Be careful now.' the woman said concerned. 'When you fell into that fissure you hit some stones before I could safe you. You broke some ribs so you have to lay down for a while.'

The girl looked at the woman again, but now with suspicion.

'I know you.' she said.

'That's great.' the woman replied with a smile. 'Because I know you.'

'You don't know anything about me.' the girl said with spite.

'You're name is Georgiana Kazemaru, though you like to be called Georgi.' the woman said. 'You lived in Mima until your parents got killed. You joined the Japanese assassination squad junior division at age 12 because you want to find your parents' killer.'

Georgi looked in surprise at the woman next to her. She quickly hid her surprised reaction.

'Yeah, well maybe you do.' she muttered. 'But that's to be expected from the head of all assassination squads, Will Vandom.'

Will smiled at the girl.

'Yeah that's right.' she said. 'Now tell me what you were doing with the adult squad.'

Georgi smiled. Maybe she could shock the woman if she told her what her mission was.

'I was chosen to replace one of the fallen members of the squad.' she replied. 'We had a mission to kill someone.'

She focused on Will as a smile crept on her face.

'We were sent to kill you.'

Instead of a shocked reaction, which Georgi had anticipated, Will smiled sadly at her.

'I know.' she replied. 'Not that you would be capable of it but still.'

This angered Georgi. Who did she think she was?

'What do you mean?' Georgi asked highly annoyed. 'We were with 20 men and you're on your own. You couldn't survive!'

Will smiled.

'You're right.' she replied. 'If I decided to betray Hay-Lin a couple of days earlier then you would be right, but now… No, I don't think that you could.'

Georgi glared at Will but before she could come back with a reply Will spoke again.

'And why I think that is solely my concern.' she said, scaring Georgi a little.

Suddenly someone came into the tent.

'Will, I really think you should go to sleep.' the male with shaggy brown hair said. 'I can watch over her and wake you when she's…oh.'

'Caleb, meet Georgi. Georgi, Caleb.' Will said while stifling a yawn.

Georgi just glared at Caleb while Caleb gave her a short nod.

'She looks like her and you at the same time.' he commented.

Georgi looked confused at Will as she smiled.

'Yeah, but let's hope that she won't go towards the dark.'

'Could you people talk as if I'm in the room too?' Georgi said with annoyance.

Caleb and Will laughed when suddenly more people entered the tent.

'Ehren, Natasha, Edeline!' a dark skinned female said. 'You know you aren't allowed to see her until Will says so.'

'Come on Taranee!' the girl with orange hair moaned. 'We want to know if she's okay!'

This confused Georgi. Why would anyone care about her? No-one did so why would a random stranger?

'Come in.' Will said as she got up. 'I see you brought some food for her, good.'

She turned to Georgi, who was in turn looking terribly confused by all this.

'Welcome to the rebellion, Georgi.'

With that she walked away, followed by Caleb and the dark skinned woman.

'Are you sure it's wise to leave them alone?' Taranee asked Will as Will walked to her own tent.

Will yawned loudly.

'Don't worry Taranee.' she said. 'Georgi needs to learn that there are more people who can care about her except her parents. You and I both know that a best friend is like a 4 leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.'

Taranee smiled sadly at Will. She really hoped that Will was right.

'Caleb, why don't you help Will into bed?' she said with a small smile. 'It's been a long day for her and I've got to do some things.'

Caleb and Will stiffened after this. Caleb looked blankly at Taranee while Will was glaring daggers.

*_You are treading on dangerous ground, Miss Cook!*_ Will said telepathically.

Taranee smiled as Caleb slowly went to Will. He took her hand and slowly lead her to her tent. Will looked briefly in his emerald green eyes and felt that she started blushing. She quickly went into bed to hide her blush.

*After all these years he is still good looking.* she thought. *He looks even better than 5 years ago and… O God girl! Get a grip on yourself! You're going to be the next Oracle for crying out loud! You can't let your hormones take control!*

Caleb looked at Will as she was getting into bed.

*Too bad that she is going to be the next Oracle. She is a real stunner.*

He noticed that Will was looking at him and he got the hint. He turned around to leave when he suddenly remembered something.

'Will, I'm going to the castle to see if Vathek is alright, the last thing I heard was that he was degraded to dungeon cleaner.' he said.

He turned around to leave when Will spoke.

'You can go, but don't come complain to me when Taranee and I come to save you.' she replied sleepily.

He turned around to give her some piece of his mind but then noticed that she was already asleep. He smiled at her.

'Goodnight, Will.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_In Heatherfield, Hay-Lin's HQ_

'What do you mean with there was no one there!' Hay-Lin screeched.

A man dressed in black shrunk under Hay-Lin's demanding voice.

'Please, Lin-sama.' he said with a quivering voice. 'We-we arrived there b-but it was e-empty.'

Hay-Lin was almost literally breathing fire. She pointed a finger at the man in front of her. A small force of air shot from her finger, shooting right through the man's head. She then snapped her fingers. Immediately Courtney, Bess, Cornelia and Irma appeared. Courtney and Bess cringed when they saw the man's body but Cornelia and Irma didn't react to it at all.

'You two.' Hay-Lin said as she pointed at Bees and Courtney. 'You'll clean this mess up.'

Courtney and Bess nodded and quickly went to work while trying not to puke.

'You two.' Hay-Lin said as she pointed at Cornelia and Irma. 'Follow me.'

Cornelia and Irma followed Hay-Lin quietly. Hay-Lin walked through her mansion and everywhere she came her servants seem to melt away with the walls. All were hiding from her. Hay-Lin finally stopped at a door. The door was made out of oak and neatly crafted. It had a lot of decorations and in the middle of the doors the Kandrakarian sign of Air was placed. Hay-Lin pushed the doors open. They revealed a round room with in the middle a round wall. Hay-Lin touched the wall on five different spots and the wall started to lit up. A portal appeared in it.

'You two, go first.' she commanded and Irma and Cornelia neatly obeyed.

She then walked through it herself.

She had arrived on Kandrakar and she saw that Cornelia and Irma were waiting obediently. She motioned them to follow her and she stalked towards the Council Room. She passed a small cage. The cage in question smelled terrible. There was a creature in the cage who hid when he saw Hay-Lin coming.

'Don't hurt Blunk!' it said frightened.

Hay-Lin ignored this and kept walking. She arrived at the Council Room. She pushed the doors open and glared at the only person in whole Kandrakar. Irma and Cornelia entered as well but stopped at the entrance and kneeled before the Oracle.

'Hay-Lin, I expected you.' Yan-Lin said.

'No shit, you're the Oracle. You're supposed to know such things!' Hay-Lin replied annoyed.

'Watch your tone, young lady.' Yan-Lin replied coldly.

One thing was evident. The love that had been between Hay-Lin and her grandmother had disappeared and was replaced by coldness.

'Well, can you explain me why my assassination squad didn't find any rebels while they were searching in their headquarters?' Hay-Lin said coldly, neatly ignoring her grandmother's previous reply.

'I don't know.' Yan-Lin replied, now looking annoyed and confused.

'You don't know?' Hay-Lin repeated in a cold, non-believing tone.

'No. They suddenly disappeared from my sight, approximately 2 hours ago.' Yan-Lin replied shrugging.

Hay-Lin's eyes narrowed.

'How can they disappear from your Sight?' she asked, clearly annoyed.

'I'm afraid I can only guess.' Yan-Lin replied. 'But my guesses are that they found a way to mask their presence from me.'

'And how could they do that?' Hay-Lin replied even colder than before.

'There are ways.' Yan-Lin replied. 'I guess they found out about the cult that also made the portal to Kandrakar you're using.'

Hay-Lin sighed in frustration. First Will goes rogue, now the rebels were missing… Will!

'Grandma, where is Will?' Hay-Lin asked, having an ominous feeling.

'I don't know.' Yan-Lin replied with a very annoyed sigh. 'Her presence disappeared some time ago and I've been searching for her ever since.'

Hay-Lin started to pace. She was grumbling to herself while Yan-Lin was watching her.

'It has to be her. She must have done this…but how?'

'Hay-Lin you don't have any proof of that.' Yan-Lin replied.

'But you know Will!' Hay-Lin exclaimed. 'She always finds a way to thwart her enemies.'

'Be as it may be, you need to go back.' Yan-Lin replied coldly as she turned around to meditate. 'You're going to receive some interesting Intel in seven days.'

Hay-Lin glared at her grandmother. She then turned around briskly and motioned Irma and Cornelia to follow her. Just before Hay-Lin left the room she heard her grandmother call after her.

'Hay-Lin, if I were you I would increase the power of the enthrallment spell on Irma and Cornelia. With Will on the loose, they might get their hopes up and fight back. I'm already increasing the enthrallment spell on Elyon.'

Hay-Lin turned around and saw her grandmother sitting in the lotus position with her eyes closed. She grumbled something under her breath before returning to Earth.

Neither of them knew that there was another person in the room. Someone who was their mentally, not physically and with that she was there also unintentionally. She had managed to hear the whole conversation without being noticed and this new information made her smile.

'Leave it to me to try to get some sleep and end up doing Oracle business.' Will grumbled softly.

Suddenly Yan-Lin got up. She seemed to search the room for something and Will knew that Yan-Lin sensed her. Or at least a presence.

'Who is there?' Yan-Lin demanded coldly. 'Appear and I'll let you live.'

Will laughed coldly as she let herself disappear. It was time for her to fall into the dream world anyway. Yan-Lin looked through the room, trying to sense the unusual presence she felt moments ago, but she found none. Though still suspicious she shrugged it off. If something would threaten her she would have had a vision by now.

_Meanwhile in Meridian_

Taranee was walking through the rebel base. She had heard about Caleb's ridiculous action but she was too late to stop him. She could have teletransported to him but that could draw unwanted attention. So now she was just walking around, helping rebels out with setting up camp or watching some rebels practice fighting or hiding or helping with preparing a meal for dinner.

*I wonder how the girls are doing* she thought as she walked to the tent Will gave to Georgi.

She smiled sadly when she noticed what she thought. A couple of years ago, she would have thought the same about her friends, before they got corrupted.

She came to the tent and decided to stay outside to hear what was going on.

'You don't know anything about me.' she heard Georgi say.

'But we want to.' Natasha urged. 'You can use a friend and so do we.'

'I don't know Nat.' Ehren said. Taranee smiled as she shook her head. Ehren took awfully after Irma when it came to being annoying and thinking of nicknames.

'I don't think I want to befriend someone who is this bitchy. You were nice when you arrived and Edeline wasn't this mean when I first met her.'

'Ehren, you're not helping!' Edeline hissed.

'Ehren, you've grown up with the rebels ever since your parents passed away. They were like a family to you, at least from what you told us.' Natasha answered. 'But Edeline, Georgi and I lived with the assassination squads. Edeline for 6 months, I for a year but Georgi lived with them since she was 12. And believe me, they are cold and don't care about you…'

'I never told you that I joined the squad at age 12.' Georgi said suspicious.

'I heard Will say something like that when you were unconscious.' Natasha replied simply.

'Yeah, well… I don't care.' Georgi said stubborn.

Taranee sensed that there was an upcoming fight so she entered the tent. When she entered she saw she was right. Edeline was stopping Ehren from jumping at the girl while Natasha looked sadly at her. The four girls noticed Taranee and the atmosphere in the tent changed. Georgi tensed while Ehren relaxed. Edeline and Natasha gave Taranee a small smile.

'Okay you three, leave her alone.' Taranee said sternly. 'You three need to set your own tent up and Georgi needs some rest.'

Ehren was all too happy to leave the grouchy Georgi and Edeline also didn't seem to mind. Natasha on the other hand looked troubled. She turned to Georgi and looked into her eyes.

'Are you sure you want us to leave?' she asked, almost hurt.

Taranee looked at them with a bemused smile. Ehren and Edeline were already out of range to hear this conversation and she could feel Georgi's shock and surprise.

'I…I…I just want to sleep…' Georgi stammered helpless.

Natasha nodded as she walked to Taranee. Before walking out of the tent she looked one more time at Georgi.

'I'll bring you some food later on.' she said before walking away.

Georgi looked confused at the tent's entrance. Taranee noticed her confusion and closed in. She sat down next to Georgi on her bed, making Georgi snap out of her train of thoughts.

'How are you feeling?' Taranee asked gentle and concerned.

Georgi looked in confusion at Taranee.

'Why do you care?' she asked softly.

'Because you were hurt badly.' Taranee said with a sad smile. 'And because I care about you.'

Georgi looked at her. Her eyes were full of tears. Tears of anger and confusion.

'Why!' she practically screamed. 'Why would you care for a weak, slow, worthless little kid as me? You would be better of killing me than let me live!'

Taranee wasn't taken aback by this. She had seen Edeline's reaction when she first joined the rebels. Confusion was written all over her face back then and she nearly killed a rebel to proof a point. Taranee had to admit that she was surprised when she noticed that Natasha took her change so well, but maybe that was Will's doing.

'Tell me, Georgi.' Taranee said gentle. 'Why do you think that?'

Georgi glared at her hands as she tried to stop crying.

'You wouldn't understand.' she said slowly.

'Now if you try to explain I can try to understand.' Taranee replied. 'If you don't than it is only natural I wouldn't understand. Now try me.'

Georgi glared briefly at her before wiping some tears from her face.

'If I can't find the killer of my parents, than why should I live?' she started. 'Lin-sama gave me the opportunity to avenge my family and now I'm caught by the killer of them!'

Taranee looked confused at her. Taranee estimated Georgi's age around 15 so that would mean that Georgi's parents were killed 3 years ago, before Will even knew about what was going on in Heatherfield.

'Who told you that Will killed your parents?' Taranee asked intrigued.

'Lin-sama.' Georgi answered promptly. There was something about the dark skinned woman that made her want to answer. 'She came to visit the day that we got our assignment. She told me that it was Will who killed my parents.'

Taranee was cursing under her breath. Hay-Lin had paid too much attention to Nerissa's and Phobos' manipulating skills. She turned to Georgi and placed her hand on her shoulder. Georgi looked up, shocked by the gesture, and was looking into a gentle looking face. She had thought that the woman would be mad for insulting her friend like that. When she insulted someone in the assassination squad she got hit immediately and punished for her insolence. She was half-expecting the same here.

Taranee of course read those thoughts, not voluntarily but the girl was practically broadcasting her thoughts. She smiled sadly before stroking Georgi's short hair.

'Listen to me. And listen very well.' Taranee said slowly. 'I know you are not going to believe me for what I'm going to say but please consider them. When your parents were killed, Will was studying in Great-Brittan. But there was someone else in Japan at that time. I never thought bad about it but it makes sense on how she got an assassination squad in Japan. I have the eerie feeling that it was Hay-Lin who killed your parents, not Will.'

Georgi stared at Taranee. How dared she to insult her benefactor like that?

'Before you're going to reply let me explain you how I know this.' Taranee said while holding her hand up, stopping Georgi from assaulting her with verbal attacks. 'Before all this happened, Will, Irma, Cornelia, Hay-Lin and I were friends. Best friends. We knew everything about each other and were happy. Until one day. Will was gone studying abroad and Hay-Lin fell into the dark. And she took Irma and Cornelia with her. I know more about them than you and believe me, not everything is pretty.'

Georgi seemed to think over Taranee's words. She knew that she couldn't try to defend her benefactor, but now that she thought about it Taranee's words seemed to be right. As long as she lived with the assassination squad she had never experienced concern, or love. Hay-Lin must have known this. And Hay-Lin was always so cold and scary.

*_Never trust your enemies!*_ That warning rang through her head. But was this woman an enemy? She seemed nicer than anyone else she met since her parents died. She looked up at Taranee, who seemed to be patiently waiting for her to ask a question.

'Why me?' she asked. 'Why not someone else?'

Taranee smiled at Georgi as she rubbed through Georgi's hair.

'You are more special and useful than you think you are, but I don't think that was Will's intentional idea to bring you here. I think she wanted to give you a second chance, just like she did with Natasha. No-one should live in the dark, so you shouldn't either.'

She got up and she once again rubbed through Georgi's hair. Her hand slid to Georgi's forehead and Georgi felt that Taranee was making a cross on her forehead.

'I've been praying for years for something like this to happen, and now that Will returned everything is going so quickly. I just wish that there weren't so many innocent lives involved.  
>I've seen that you're lonely. Making friends will not hurt you, you know?<br>But now I think it would be better for you to sleep.' she said with a smile.

Georgi knew that the conversation was over. A strange feeling settled in her. A feeling she hadn't felt in years.

'Goodnight miss.' Georgi said softly.

Taranee smiled again.

'Goodnight Georgi. And you can call me Taranee.'

With that Taranee flicked her wrist and the candle went out. But Georgi hadn't noticed a thing because right after Taranee said her name, she fell asleep.

The next day Georgi awoke. When she tried to get up she felt her ribs again. They really hurt a lot. She looked around her room and slowly the memories of yesterday returned. She heard a noise and quickly turned her head. She saw Natasha sleeping on the ground next to her in a sleeping bag.

*Why would she sleep here?* Georgi thought slightly annoyed and confused.

She wanted to let Natasha sleep some more and tried to get out of bed to search for some food or Taranee or a restroom. But when she tried to get up she felt a sharp pain and she groaned loudly. The noise awakened Natasha and Natasha quickly looked up. When she noticed what Georgi was trying to do she quickly got up.

'No. No. No. No. No. No!' she said quickly as she went to Georgi's side of the bed. She slowly pushed Georgi back in bed.

'You can't get up!' she said. 'You're way to injured!'

Georgi looked confused at Natasha.

'Why are you here?' she asked her as she kept sitting on the rim of her bed.

Natasha gave her attempts to put Georgi back in bed up and smiled shyly at her.

'I thought you could use some company. I mean after 3 years with the assassination squad you could use a friend.'

Georgi looked confused at Natasha. Taranee's remark rang through her head. She smiled shyly back at Natasha.

'Thanks, I guess.' she said. 'But I need to get up. I need to go to the restroom.'

Natasha took Georgi under an arm and slowly pulled her up.  
>'Let me help.' she said.<p>

Together they walked to the restroom. While walking Georgi smiled at Natasha.

'Thanks, what's your name anyway? I didn't catch it yesterday.'

Natasha smiled at her newly gained friend.

'Natasha. Natasha Lewis.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Three days went by. Taranee noticed that Caleb hadn't shown his face since he left but knowing him, he would be destroying something to annoy Hay-Lin and blow their covers. She also noticed that Georgi was opening up. She smiled more and even managed to joke sometimes. Ehren and Edeline both acted nicer to her than first and Natasha was actually becoming Georgi's best friend. Will kept sleeping through the days, without wakening up once. Though Taranee would normally be concerned about that but she had the feeling that Will's newly gained Oracle powers had taken their toll on her. Now she was reading one of her books, while also keeping an eye on the four girls. Georgi was capable of walking a little and now they were playing a simple game of cards, though Ehren and Edeline seemed to team up against Natasha and Georgi by giving each other the better cards.

'Cheater!' Georgi exclaimed. 'You're not allowed to give each other cards!'

'We did not.' Edeline said a little too innocent.

'Yes you did!' Georgi growled annoyed.

'I do not know what you're talking about.' Ehren said innocently.

'Yes you do!' Natasha said now. 'I've seen it as well!'

'How dare you to accuse us of cheating!' Ehren said looking hurt.

'# To be honest, you did cheat.#' a robotic voice said.

Taranee looked up. She recognized the voice as a mechanical machine. She was accustomed to the voices, thanks to Will, but the girls were looking around. Confused.

'Who said that?' Ehren said, slightly panicked.

'# I did. #' the voice said again.

Taranee immediately noticed that it was Ehren's watch that was talking and got up. The last thing she wanted was having the four of them screaming out of fear and shaking the whole rebellion.

'Who did?' Edeline asked a little freaked.

'# I did! #' the voice said now annoyed.

The girls seem to notice that the voice came of Ehren's wrist. They all looked at the digital watch around her wrist.

'Do you've got a name?' Taranee questioned, making the girls look at her in confusion.

'# No. #' the watch replied. '# This is the first time I can talk while the redhead isn't near! #'

Ehren was literally freaked out by this. She took her watch off and wanted to throw it away, but Taranee stopped her.

'Don't.' she said. 'This isn't the watch' fault. There is something you four need to know.'

The four girls looked confused at her and Taranee sighed. She had at least hoped that Will would be the one who would say this to them, not her. The girls all looked at Taranee with demanding gazes.

*Did we look like that at Yan-Lin when she wanted to explain something?* she thought.

'Okay. Now look, you know that Hay-Lin uses magic, right?' she started.

The four girls nodded. Taranee had explained them about the magical powers Hay-Lin, Irma, Cornelia, Will and she had.

'But I never told you how we got them, or why Will is wearing that tattoo.' she said.

She noticed that the four girls were looking at her in curiosity. They all straightened their backs and looked at Taranee, expecting more.

'Well it is because… Have you ever heard of the Gu…' she said before getting interrupted.

'Taranee! Taranee!'

Taranee looked around while the girls moaned. Nigel came walking at Taranee and looked concerned.

'What's wrong Nigel?' she asked concerned.

'Martin got some unfortunate news.' he said. 'You know that some of our spies managed to put wards all around the area, right?'

Taranee nodded.

'Yeah, well. I made Caleb take a couple of wards with him so that we could get a clear view on the castle. He also had a transmitter on him in case something went wrong and…'

'Let me guess… He got himself captured.' Taranee said.

Nigel nodded.

Taranee sighed. 'He always ends up in this sort of situations. I just hope he isn't put in front of Elyon yet.'

She looked at Nigel.

'Go back to Martin and get some transmitters. Will and I will need them to keep in contact. I'll wake Will.'

Nigel nodded and walked away. Taranee turned to the girls who were hoping that Taranee might continue.

'Sorry girls, I'll continue later on.' she said as she walked towards Will's tent.

As she entered she saw that Alchemy was there, loyally watching over Will. She was reading a book now and smiled at Taranee when she came in.

'Hey T, checking on Will again?' she said.

'Sorry Alchemy, but this time I'm going to wake her.' Taranee said. 'I need her to get Caleb out of the dungeons.'

Alchemy looked shocked about the news of Caleb kidnapped and quickly nodded. Taranee went to Will and started to shake her violently, knowing that this was the only way to wake Will up.

'Will! Will! Wake up!' she yelled.

Will moaned slightly and slowly opened her eyes.

'You don't have to scream, thank you.' she said sleepily.

'Sorry but we need to pay the dungeons a visit.' Taranee said hastily.

'Caleb got himself caught again?' Will asked bored as she got up and started to change clothes.

'Yeah.' Taranee said with a slight smile.

'Well, I warned him.' she said. 'I've got some news I need to tell you but I think it's better to get Caleb before telling you.'

Taranee and Alchemy looked curiously at Will. Will turned to Alchemy with a smile.

'Thanks for watching over me.' she said with a smile.

Alchemy turned red and her eyes widened in shock.

'H-How…how did you…' she stammered.

'I'll explain later. Now Taranee let's go and get the doofus we love so much.' Will said as she grabbed a cloak that laid in a corner of the tent.

*_Or do You mean, the doofus YOU love so much.*_ Taranee said telepathically with a sly smile.

Will glared at Taranee.

*_Again treading on dangerous ground, miss Cook.*_ she warned, making Taranee smile even more.

Both of them quickly went to Martin.

'Here you are. Two transmitters.' Martin said as he gave them to little earphones. 'I'll contact you when I see anything unusual on the radar.'

Will and Taranee accepted the earphones and put them in.

'I see that you're already settled, Martin.' Will said with a smile.

Martin smiled back.

'Yeah, just wish there was internet around here.' he said.

'Can't wish for everything.' Will replied with a grin.

Then Will and Taranee went for the exit. They had a mission. Get the rebel leader and get out without being seen. Will had warned Taranee that she was still tired and didn't dare to use her Oracle powers to mask their presence from Elyon if they used magic.

_In Meridian castle, the dungeons._

Caleb was thrown into a cell. He groaned. He was caught by the assassination squad when he tried to go back. Luckily for him they hadn't informed Elyon about his presence. On the downside he was being tortured into saying where their new rebel HQ was.

'At least this isn't the oubliette.' he said as he slowly got up.

His chains around his wrists and ankles clanked while he rubbed his sore spots. He felt that he was bleeding at some places on his face and his back felt wet as well.

'Wh-Who … is…there?' a weak and scared voice asked.

Caleb turned around as quick as he could with his injured body. He scanned the dimly lit cell slowly when he noticed a little pile of something laying in the corner of his cell.

*That's weird.* he thought as he slowly neared the pile. * They normally give prisoners an own cell so that they can't conduct an escaping plan.*

'Stop!' the weak voice cried softly while Caleb kept approaching.

Caleb stopped. He had known from previous experiences that prisoners could be very scared of everything if they were tortured or had been tortured.

'Who are you?' he asked softly.

The pile moved a little. It revealed to be a person, a girl to be exact. She was shivering and even with the dim light, Caleb could see that she was badly tortured.

'Who are you?' she answered weakly.

'My name is Caleb, I'm the rebel leader.' he said quietly.

'You're the rebel leader?' the girl said. It made Caleb think of the first time he met Will. She asked the same question with the same amount of disbelieve in her voice as this girl did.

'Yes.' he answered. 'Can you tell me your name?'

The girl seemed to hesitate.

'My..My name is Ilana Russell.' she said weakly.

She tried to get up but then moaned out of pain before falling back to the ground. Caleb noticed that she was falling and moved quickly to catch her while ignoring the pain in his body.

'Wow, easy there.' he said as he caught her.

He slowly put her down. He got a closer look on her and was shocked. Ilana had cuts all across her face and he was sure that at least one was going to leave a scar. She had two black eyes and her nose was broken. She didn't have any clothes, just some rips of clothing covering small parts of her body. Her back had red slashes and burn marks and her stomach had some old signs of whip torturing. One of her legs seemed broken and she was crying. Her hair was too filthy to determine her hair color and it was too dark to see her face clearly.

'Why?' she whispered. 'Why are you here?'

Caleb kept holding her and hugged her closely but carefully.

'I was spying in the castle when the assassination squad found me.' he whispered in her ear. 'They are torturing me for Intel.'

He noticed that she was hot.

*Presumably a fever.* he thought in concern.

'What are you doing here? Who did this to you?' he asked, sounding sincerely concerned.

He felt some of her tears falling on his arm and he hugged her again.

'Shh.' he said reassuringly. 'I'm here, you can tell me.'

'You're not going to try and hurt me too, are you?' she asked weakly.

'No, I would never hurt a child without a damned good reason and believe me, there is no reason to hurt a child.' Caleb said reassuringly, silently vowing that he would make the one pay who made this girl suffer so much.

'I…I was a member of the Meridian assassination squad.' she started shakingly. 'My parents said that it was a great honor for me to join them.'

Caleb paled after hearing this news. There were actually parents who would send their children to do such a horrible job?

'A year after I joined my parents died by a sudden Lurden raid.' she said. A little anger was clearly evident in her voice. 'After that I vowed to always follow miss Lin. To always obey her.'

'Why?' Caleb asked confused. It was pretty obvious to him that it was Hay-Lin who sent the Lurdens to attack the village and her parents. He had heard about it before fleeing to Earth, but he guessed that Ilana never knew about this.

'She gave me a home. She talked to the Queen to give me education. All I had to do was stay a member of the assassination squad.' Ilana replied, sounding as if she regretted her decision.

'I see.' Caleb said, unconsciously stroking Ilana's hair. He felt that her hair covered some cuts as well. He felt the blood on his fingers and decided to stop stroking her hair. 'But that doesn't explain why you are here.'

Ilana seemed to shake. New tears fell on Caleb's arm and he noticed that she was crying softly. He hugged her again and rocked her slowly.

'Shh. It's okay. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. I can wait.' he whispered in her ear.

He felt that Ilana was grabbing him tightly and he kept rocking her forwards and backwards. After a while she lessened her grip on him and she stopped crying as well.

'So-Sorry.' she said. 'It-It's just… it is so unfair!'

'What is unfair?' Caleb asked patiently.

'After a long time I finally got a mission. We had to go to a village and kill a man.' she started, breathing loudly. 'We arrived at the village and found the man. He was sitting at the table, eating dinner with his family. Wh-When he noticed us he sent his wife and two kids away. His kids went away…but his wife… she stayed behind. She stood in front of him and said that if we wanted to kill him, that we had to kill her as well.'

Caleb looked sorry at the girl in his arms. He could feel that she was struggling to keep her tears in check.

'The head of our group ordered me to..to.. to…' she said but she couldn't continue. New tears formed and fell down her face, on to Caleb's arms.

'To kill the woman and the man.' Caleb finished through clenched teeth. No kid should endure such a test. No kid should be made to kill other people.

'I-I couldn't!' Ilana cried. 'I-I couldn't kill them and leave those kids without a mother or father! I didn't want them to end up like me!'

Caleb again started to rock her up and down and was whispering reassuring things to her while she cried. When she managed to stop her tears again she continued, much to Caleb's growing displeasure.

'The head ordered the others to grab me. He then killed the two in front of me while mocking me for being weak. He then ordered to take me to the dungeons and tie me in the torture room. They have been torturing me for 3 days now. I…I just want to die. I don't want this anymore.' Ilana cried softly.

Caleb grabbed her as firmly as he dared. He gazed at her face with a stern look on his face.

'Now listen to me, young lady.' he said. 'There is something precious every human has. It's something that makes us laugh when we're sad. It's something that makes us wanting to stay alive. It's something no-one can take from us. They can only try to destroy it and it is that thing that makes it almost impossible to destroy it.'

He noticed that Ilana was looking terribly confused at him. He continued.

'It's called hope. As long as there is hope you can fight. I've got something worth fighting for, how about you?'

Ilana felt confused. She had never met a person who treated her like this. He reminded her of her father, how nice he was and how he made her feel reassured just by talking to her.

'I..I don't know.' she replied unsure.

'Do you want to see a life without fear and without having to kill?' he asked her.

'Yes..' she answered unsure.

'Then isn't that something worth fighting for?' he replied.

Ilana felt something inside her. As if a fire started burning inside her. A fire that had almost disappeared. A fire that was now again blazing inside of her, giving her a feeling of reassurance and…hope.

'Yeah!' she said a little more enthusiastic. 'I believe in a new Meridian. A new world. And I hope that it will happen and that I'm a part of it!'

Caleb smiled. 'Atta girl.' he said. 'As long as there is hope, there will be a future.'

'Nice said. Having hope is beautiful.' a voice said on the other side of the cell bars.

Caleb recognized the voice and got up, taking Ilana with him. A face became visible and Caleb was now looking at a woman with red hair and hazel brown eyes. She was smiling at him.

'Giving hope is beautiful too.' she finished.

'Will!' Caleb said happily.

He noticed another figure and saw that it was Taranee, knocking a guard out and lighting the path. She smiled when she saw him, though that smile quickly faded away when she noticed Caleb's and Ilana's wounds.

'Oh God! Caleb, I know you like being locked up but getting tortured… Did you insult Hay-Lin in front of Elyon or something like that? And what happened to her? Who is she anyway?' Taranee said concerned.

'Taranee, asking him questions now isn't the best option.' Will said, equally concerned. 'Use your fire power to melt the bars.'

Ilana watched with great shock how this "Taranee" melt the bars with just her hands.

'Who are you?' she asked weakly.

She saw that Will was smiling reassuringly at her.

'Don't worry.' she said. 'We're the good guys. And we're taking you with us to heal you and watch over you.'

Ilana looked surprised at Will. Will noticed her surprise and was silently cursing Hay-Lin's tactics. When Taranee had melt the bars, Caleb walked through. Will stopped him from moving any further.

'Hold it right there. You and Ilana are way to injured. You give her to me before we teletransport away. Elyon will be informed after this little escape so I'm not holding in.' she said, surprising Taranee, Ilana and Caleb in the process.

Taranee was surprised because she didn't know the name of the girl and that Elyon didn't know yet that Caleb was here. Caleb was slightly surprised that Will knew all about this but he just thought that it was a little difficult for him to accept that his girlf… that Will would become the new Oracle. Ilana was confused because she had never met Will and didn't know about Will's powers.

'You can use magic as well?' she asked scared.

The only experience she had with magic was Elyon's and that wasn't exactly the best experience someone could wish for.

'Don't worry, magic can be used for good and evil and as Will said before, we're the good guys.' Taranee said reassuringly.

Caleb cautiously handed Ilana over to Will. The moment Ilana touched Will, Ilana felt a small jolt going through her. She felt the warmth of Will's body and she smelled something. It smelled nice and she couldn't exactly place the smell. It smelled like…skin. She relaxed in Will's arms and Will smiled sadly. She had felt Ilana's change in emotions and noticed how much she was yearning for love. Taranee walked over to Caleb and put an arm around her shoulders. In a blink of an eye the group of four disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Four days went by after the jailbreak. The fact that the rebels weren't found yet was mainly thanks to Will's concealment magic. Ilana and Caleb were being healed by Will the moment they returned. Will first healed Ilana to a point of which she could heal on her own and was obliged to stay in bed. She then healed Caleb while also slightly teasing him about getting caught. Alchemy, Georgi, Ehren, Natasha and Edeline were watching over Ilana as she recovered while Martin and Nigel gave reports on Lurden sightings. After a good cleaning it was revealed that Ilana had black curly hair which she eventually tied in a ponytail and brown eyes. Like Caleb predicted she had acquired a scar on her left cheek with thanks to the torturing. She had a dark skin color though not as dark as Taranee. She was currently wearing a red tunic with black pants. On the fourth day the five girls were again playing a card game, only this time it was Ilana who was sitting in bed while the others sat on chairs or the bed.

'I've won again!' Ilana exclaimed happily.

Ehren scowled at her while Georgi and Natasha were smiling.

'Good job!' Georgi said.

'You're really good!' Natasha commented.

'I don't know.' Ehren said. 'I say you cheated.'

Ilana shot a glare at Ehren.

'Why would you think that?' she said dangerously.

'Because I always won before you came.' Ehren said, not intimidated. 'You must have cheated.'

'I can't help it if you don't have a poker face.' Ilana taunted. 'You're just too easy to read.'

'I can't help it that I didn't have an assassination squad to learn me how to lie!' Ehren retorted.

This hurt not only Ilana, but also Natasha, Edeline and Georgi. Though only Ilana retorted.

'Maybe you just want to live with them! I don't think they would mind to torture someone else!' Ilana replied with tears in her eyes.

Ehren didn't notice that she had hurt Ilana and continued.

'Why would I?'

'Because you're a baby!' Ilana retorted.

'Am not!'

'Are too!'

'Am not!' Ehren cried and the water that was standing on Ilana's nightstand started to splash out of the glass, though none of the girls paid attention to it.

'Are too!' Ilana yelled back and the candle flame, that lit the tent, started to rise. Georgi, Natasha and Edeline slowly backed away from the two fighting girls.

'Am not!'

'Are too!'

'Am not…'

'Stop it!' Natasha yelled angrily. The glass in which the water was splashing exploded and water covered the girls while Natasha looked angrily at Ilana and Ehren. 'We are just playing a card game. Do you two want to have a war equal to the one outside?'

The two girls stopped their bickering and looked ashamed at each other. The flame returned to its normal size while Georgi and Edeline were looking a little scared at Natasha, Ehren and Ilana. Ehren and Ilana didn't seem to notice what they had done and were now looking very sorry.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you.' Ehren said apologetically.

'I'm sorry that I reacted that way.' Ilana said with regret.

The two hugged but stopped when they hurt someone clapping slowly. The five turned around to see Will and Taranee standing at the entrance of the tent. Will was clapping but stopped when Taranee elbowed her.

'What?' she questioned innocently.

Taranee shook her head while Will kept grinning. The five girls looked confused.

'Why are you here?' Natasha asked confused.

'Remember that conversation, about 4 days ago?' Taranee said.

Natasha, Ehren, Edeline and Georgi nodded while Ilana shook her head. Will walked up to them and then sat on the ground. Taranee followed suit and sat down as well.

'Well, I'm going to continue.' Will said. 'I'll start at the beginning.'

She waved her hand and the background became darker and a picture or hologram of the universe appeared. The girls looked in awe at the hologram.

'A long time ago, when Earth was still a young planet, all spirits and creatures lived under the same sky. Universe was one huge kingdom.' Will said. 'Then spirits and creatures started to feel hate and the world was split to those who wanted peace and those who lived on others suffering. Both were separated with a veil. Evil was evicted into a dark place called Meridian. But before the universe split up forever it gave birth to a castle in the middle of infinity. This castle is called Kandrakar, and it is where the most powerful creatures and spirits lived and is ruled by a mighty entity called: The Oracle.'

'Wait a second. A dark place called Meridian? Aren't we on that planet?' Ehren said a little scared.

'Yes.' Taranee answered. 'This is Meridian, but it isn't evil. At least not as evil as it was 9 years ago.'

'How come?' Ilana asked interested.

'9 years ago, I moved to Heatherfield.' Will explained. 'And there I met Taranee, Irma, Cornelia and… Hay-Lin.'

The five girls gasped but kept looking at Will.

'Hay-Lin was way different back then. She was nice, happy, jumpy, hyper and cool to be around. We were invited at her family's restaurant and there we met Yan-Lin, Hay-Lin's grandmother. She told us the same story as Will tried to tell you now. We were chosen to become the new Guardians of the Infinite Dimensions.' Taranee explained.

'Guardians? What are they?' Natasha asked, not-understanding.

Ilana gasped as she looked in shock at the four other girls. None of them knew why Ilana was acting so shocked.

'You never heard of the Guardians?' she asked shocked.

The four shook their heads.

'You do?' Georgi asked a little annoyed.

'Of course I do!' she said. 'Everyone in Meridian knows! They are the fighters of evil! Champions of justice! They never fear a fight and always triumph! They saved the Queen at least twice and I've heard that they once had to fight an army and when the army looked at them they fled in fear for their powers!'

The four girls were looking in awe at Ilana when they finally remembered what Taranee had said. They turned to Will and Taranee with awed expressions.

'You were the Guardians?' they asked in shock.

Both Taranee and Will laughed.

'Yeah, but we weren't that mighty as the stories say.' Will said with a grin. 'We mostly had to fight the urge to run away from enemies than the other way around.'

'Come one Will, as long as she looked determined we would fight with you.' Taranee said.

'What powers do you have?' Georgi asked eagerly.

'I control fire and read minds. Cornelia was the Guardian of Earth, giving her the power to control earth and telekinesis, Irma was the Water Guardian, controlling water and people's minds, Hay-Lin was the Air Guardian, controlling air and turning invisible and Will was the leader. Guardian of Quintessence, she controls lightning, and can speak with every mechanical appliance. And those were just our prime powers, we have more.' Taranee explained.

'Thanks T, but now back to topic.' Will said as the five girls looked at Will in awe.

'We became Guardians. We fought the past evil Prince Phobos, Elyon's brother. We fought the former Guardian leader who went rogue and did a lot of other stuff. But after some years we stopped. I went to Great-Brittan to study and Hay-Lin went crazy. She found a way to get to Kandrakar and tried to steal the elemental powers. Just her luck that fate intervened and she ended up with just her element while the other Guardians regained theirs.' Will explained.

'Why would she go rogue?' Edeline asked.

'Various reasons.' Will said sadly. 'The lack of support from her grandmother, who died and went to Kandrakar, no dangerous missions to execute, the feeling of being left alone. A lot of which she could have handled if she spoke about her feelings.'

'Hay-Lin went rogue and Yan-Lin became the new Oracle. She managed to make Cornelia, Irma and Elyon listen to her throughout the use of her magic and is currently trying to take over Earth and then the other worlds.' Will explained.

The five girls looked confused. It was a lot to take in and Will explained it a little weird. Taranee looked at Will in shock.

'Are you saying that Cornelia and Irma are enthralled as well?' she asked with a glimmer of hope.

Will sighed. 'Yeah, and it is going to be a real pain in the ass to get them out of it.'

Taranee almost jumped out of happiness but then remembered why they were actually here.

'But what has that to do with us?' Edeline asked, still confused.

Will smiled at them.

'Because you are the new Guardians.' she said simply.

The five paled when Will said that.

'How…How do you know?' Ehren asked.

'See the sign on my head?' Will said as she pointed at the sign on her head. 'This is the sign of the Oracle. I was supposed to become the next one, not Yan-Lin. Now Yan-Lin and I are sharing our powers and I've got the power to sense the new Guardians.'

'And you're sure you're right?' Natasha asked unsure.

'Positive.' Will said.

'Does that mean we have to fight Hay-Lin?' Ehren asked scared out of her wits.

Taranee and Will shook their heads.

'No, you aren't capable of receiving your full powers because we still have them and you are way too inexperienced to do this.' Will said, reassuring the girls.

'That does not mean that we aren't going to teach you how to use your powers, so that you can help us out in some battles.' Taranee said.

'Powers? What powers?' Georgi asked confused.

'Every Guardian receives the power of one element.' Will explained. 'The leader holds the Heart of Kandrakar that can transform and enhance the other Guardians' powers. It gives also a couple of extra tricks but I'm going to let you find out about them yourselves.'

She then took the necklace of that she had been wearing ever since she arrived at the rebellion. She got up and walked to Ehren. The necklace glowed blue and Ehren saw a wave crest appear in it.

'You, Ehren, will have power over Water, unbroken and uncontainable.' Will said.

The moment Will said "Water" Ehren felt the strange feeling of water around her. Will moved over to Ilana. The necklace glowed red and Ilana saw a triangle with an open corner in it.

'To you, generous Ilana, the difficult gift of Fire.' Will said.

Ilana felt the warmth in her body spread as Will told her this. Will moved over to Edeline. The crystal turned green and Edeline saw a circle with a dot in it.

'To firm Edeline, the power of Earth.' Will said.

Edeline was sure that she suddenly smelt the odor of freshly mown grass when Will said "Earth". Will moved over to Georgi. The crystal turned grey and Georgi saw a swirly sign in it.

'To you, Georgi, you will be free and light as the Air.' Will said.

Georgi felt air blow past her face as Will said these words.

'You five need to train your powers so that we won't have any accidents anymore.' Will said while nodding at the broken glass of water and the slightly blackened part of the tent.

The girls first grinned sheepishly before they noticed something. Will said all five of them… The four turned their heads to Natasha as she looked confused at Will.

'All five? You mean I have powers too?' she asked a little worried.

Will smiled at her.

'Give me your hand.' she said. 'You will find out soon enough.'

Natasha held her hand out and Will lowered the Heart of Kandrakar into it. Then it's warm, pulsing glow began to grow. It became more and more intense until the orb was shooting sparkling, pink light all over the tent. The four new Guardians were looking with their breath held in to prevent them from screaming. But Natasha didn't seem scared at all. In fact, she seemed transformed. She still looked the same, skinny Natasha, but her face was rapturous. Her hair was floating around her head in a luminous halo. And her hand, clasping the magical Heart of Kandrakar, seemed to float upward.

'Aaaagh!' Natasha cried, throwing her head back.

The girls didn't know what was surging through her. Pleasure? Power? Knowledge? Or maybe…

'This is real magic!' Georgi exclaimed.

The other three girls nodded in agreement as they couldn't take their eyes of Natasha. Will and Taranee were smiling at each other as they saw the girls awed expressions. Suddenly, it was all over. The Heart of Kandrakar had actually disappeared in Natasha's right hand palm and she had returned to being ordinary Natasha, albeit a very shaken up one. Ehren was pointing at Natasha's hand as if she couldn't grasp the fact that an amulet just sunk into her friends palm while Natasha locked eyes with Will.

'What…was that?' she panted.

Will smiled at her. 'The Heart has acknowledged its new Keeper. Take good care of it and it will take good care of you.'

Natasha and the other girls were planning on asking more when Will pointed at the entrance of the tent.

'Ilana, you're healed enough to practice a bit with your magic.' she said. 'Now you five go to the training grounds. Make sure you're going to warn the other rebels that you're going to practice and Edeline, don't try any earthquakes if you please.'

The five girls noticed the hidden message and slowly got up and walked off.

'And don't shoot at Caleb!' Will called them after. 'He has experience in dodging!'

She then went to go sit on one of the chairs. She sighed heavily while Taranee sat on the bed.

'Let's hope G.E.N.I.E. will not have to fight Hay-Lin, Cornelia, Irma or Elyon.' Will sighed.

Taranee looked confused at Will.

'Genie?' she asked.

Will gave a weak smile.

'I figured their acronym. It stands for Georgi, Ehren, Natasha, Ilana and Edeline. You know, Hay-Lin isn't the only one who can think of those things you know.'

Taranee replied with a smile of her own.

_At Hay-Lin's HQ_

'Miss Lin! Miss Lin!' Bess cried throughout the house.

She was running with papers in her hand. Suddenly Cornelia and Irma appeared next to her. Bess cried out of shock. She noticed that both Irma's and Cornelia's look looked more…zombie like?

'You want to speak the mistress?' Irma said in a dry voice.

'Y-Yes.' Bess said scared. 'I've got news considering the rebels.'

Cornelia and Irma took a hold of Bess and teletransported away with her. Bess opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in Hay-Lin's chamber. Hay-Lin was eyeing her with minor interest as Irma and Cornelia let go of Bess and bowed in front of Hay-Lin. Bess quickly bowed down as well.

'So you have some news that might interest me?' Hay-Lin asked coldly and seemingly uninterested.

*It's been 7 days since my visit to Kandrakar. I wonder what kind of news this is.* she thought to herself while looking down on Bess.

Bess shivered as she started to speak.

'Miss, we've received some very interesting information from Meridian.' she said.

Hay-Lin arched an eyebrow. 'And what news might that be?'

'The Meridian assassination squad had managed to capture Caleb.' Bess said quivering.

Hay-Lin smiled. Caleb was in Meridian which meant that the rebellion was there as well.

'Good, send word to Elyon that she brings him to me.' Hay-Lin ordered.

'Uhmm… yeah…About that…' Bess said, feeling extremely nervous.

Hay-Lin felt that some bad news was coming.

'What?' she said coldly.

'He-He escaped… The only thing left in the cell…was this note…' Bess said as she held out a note.

Hay-Lin got up and took the note out of Bess' trembling hand. She looked at it and gave a scream out of fury. The note said: "I guess you know where we are now. I'll be seeing you. Signed, W.I.T.C.H." With an X through the W.

Bess ran out of the chamber in fear while Cornelia and Irma stayed put. Hay-Lin calmed down and started to pace through her room.

_At the rebel HQ in Meridian_

'So, do you have any idea how to dethrall Irma, Cornelia or Elyon?' Taranee asked interested.

'Yes, but each idea is even more dangerous and more ridiculous than the last one.' Will sighed.

Taranee looked with a reassuring smile at Will. Will smiled sadly back.

'But this means that the war is almost over, right?' she asked hopefully.

_Hay-Lin's HQ_

Hay-Lin stopped pacing and looked at her tapestry that showed how she had beaten Kandrakar. A creepy smile crept over her face.

_At the rebel HQ in Meridian._

Will shook her head.

'No…' she said.

_Will and Hay-Lin at the same time __**[A/N] See it as a double screen, on the right Will and on the left Hay-Lin**_

'The war has just begun.'

_**And that was it! Tell me what your thoughts are! I hope I made everyone happy!**_

_**Hay-Lin: 'Well you didn't make me happy.'**_

_**Me: 'Shut up. You're the villain.'**_

_**Anyway, review please!**_

**_[A/N] This is a new note. Lexvan has asked me if it was cool if he wrote a sequel/prequel to this story. I'm busy with the original sequel but I'm using material out of this story. So I suggest you read "Warriors Unite" from Lexvan before reading the coming sequel. Thanks for your understanding._**


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